System 6 Hell: Games and Apps for Mini vMac

(updated February 19, 2017)

This page provides disk images containing shareware and freeware Macintosh games and applications. Originally, this collection was limited to programs published in the 1980s, but it has been expanded to include some helpful applications and historically important games from the early 1990s. Everything posted here has been tested in Mini vMac running System 6.0.8. The disk images should be usable in Mini vMac running on any host system. The games have been expanded and are ready to play in the emulator. You can probably run many of these games in Basilisk II as well.

If a game runs too fast, hit “CTRL-S” in Mini vMac to adjust the speed of the emulation.

Air Traffic Controller

Guide the planes to safety. I've included a 1992 version of this program, as I have had trouble extracting older versions that fit the 1980s theme of this collection. The manual is included as a MacWrite file, but you can also download a .txt file to read on your host system. Note also that there was a commercial release of this game (under the title “Near Miss”) in 1988.

Best Baseball

This is a wonderful baseball sim for two players. One player makes the pitching call and his opponent calls the hitting and baserunning plays. Watch for the fun homerun graphic. There is no option to play against the computer, sadly.

Billiard Parlor

Maybe the first billiards game made for the Mac? Check out the programming notes in the “Help” menu. Remember to slow down the emulation, or better yet try running this one on a variation of Mini vMac that emulates as old a machine as possible… it runs too fast under default emulation!

Bird Race

Pick a bird, make a wager and watch the race. The author calls it a “simple game for simple minds.” Remember to slow down the emulation (CTRL-S)… it runs too fast under default emulation! The game will give you speech if Macintalk is installed.

Blackjack

Bouncing Balls!

Avoid hitting the bouncing balls. Fun Fact: This delightfully simple game was designed by Andrew Welch, who four years later would found the Very Important company Ambrosia Software. Welch doesn't talk about this game anymore.3)

Brickles

A classic (early) Breakout clone for the Mac. This one is so old that you will need to slow down Mini vMac to play it. Fun fact: Developer Ken Winograd is still making software, including updated OS X versions of Brickles! Update: Thanks to René, the disk image now contains Brickles 5.0 in addition to 7.0.

C

Cairo Shootout!

For maximum enjoyment, you need to know what letter each symbol in the old Cairo font matches up to. Sad Fact: Duane Blehm, the teenage creator of Cairo Shootout (and also of “Stunt Copter”) passed away shortly after publishing this game. His parents re-released all of his work as freeware.

Cannon Fodder

Written by: John Barnett
Published by: Fantasy Computing, 1989Download

Chinese Puzzle

This one was added at the recommendation of J Smith who wrote “this is the only computer game my dad ever really liked, and he still plays it. I've had to install Basilisk on my more recent Macs to be able to keep it working.”

Deep Angst

Disinfectant

This is the virus scanner of note for Macs running System 6. One probably doesn't care too much about viruses within Mini vMac's emulated environment, but do keep in mind that many (a majority) of the 68K software floating around the internet is infected with the nVIR virus. Fun Fact: Recently retired, Disinfectant creator John Norstad has a very interesting webpage with content both new and old.

Dungeon

Dungeon is the mainframe version of what went on to become “Zork,” and can thus be distributed as freeware. This build dates from 1991 and runs in System 6. It was put together by Magnus Olsson. However, this is not the final version of Dungeon, and for a more rewarding experience, you may wish to get a build based on version 3.2B (from 1994) from this site. They have builds than run in System 7 and Mac OS X.

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Glider

One of the all-time great Mac games. It's a paper airplane flight sim. Really fun, really addictive. This is actually a 1991 release, since the version 1.x and 2.x releases from the 1980s seem impossible to find these days. Please note that all versions of Glider are totally free now, and can be downloaded from the author's personal page. The page includes a Windows version.

Hotel Caper, The

HyperCard Player 2.4.1

Obviously this one doesn't fit the 1980s theme of the collection, but I think that version 2.4.1 of HyperCard (player) is the only version I'm legally allowed to distributed. And of course HyperCard is necessary to play some cool games from the era!

Kid Pix

This is the original shareware version of the classic art program for children. Fun Fact: Kid Pix creator Craig Hickman has a website that includes some Kid Pix remembrances (and lots more cool stuff).

Klondike

Here's the super rare 4.0 version of Michael Casteel's venerable Klondike for the Mac. This is the last version released in the 1980s. I found the file at the MacGUI Vault. Note that this program is still developed… newer versions are described at the author's homepage.

L

Lembracs

Let's Get Tanked

This one is a fun tank combat game. Go head-to-head with the computer. Use the mouse to move and click to shoot. For best results, play in full screen mode. Fun Fact: I think that designer Bill Hensler wrote this book about designing Mac games and is now a Vice President at Adobe. Cool.

Mac Word Hunt

A fun word game. Try to make as many words as possible using connected tiles (yes, it is like BOGGLE).

Mines

Written by: Daniel Griscom
Published by: The Computer Museum, 1988Download

A variation on Minesweeper. The goal is to move from the top left of the grid to the bottom right without hitting a mine. Click to move, shift-click to mark squares. Fun Fact: The author of this game has a consulting firm.

Monopoly

A remarkably solid Monopoly game. You can even implement some common “house rules” which is more than one can say about some common Monopoly games. It's shareware, though I'm not sure if the author had permission from Parker Brothers. Thanks to pinballfan9 for the file!

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NetTrek

This is version 3.51d of NetTrek. It was provided by the original author, Randy Carr. It was added to the System 6 Hell collection at the request of John, though you should probably run the game in Basilisk II if you want to play network opponents. Note that you can also play NetTrek on modern systems, since the game is still being actively developed.

O

Orion

A space flight simulator. Use some not-simple controls to pilot your faster-than-light vessel around the galaxy. Try visiting Wolf-359, perhaps. This game was developed by Robert Munafo, who is an E-Maculation forum member. TIP: Using Mini vMac's magnification feature will make this game a lot more fun. You might also try tinkering with the speed of the emulation (check that you aren't using the 8x emulation be default… try 2x instead).

P

Pharaoh

A wonderful sim game. You play as an upstart pharaoh and must buy land, grow crops, trade goods and cut deals with your neighbors. You should also download the manual, generously provided by Macintosh Garden. A user, also on Mac Garden, contacted Robert Martin, the game's author, and he was cool enough to provide a registration code: fnjfgr,=k,su

Phrase Craze Plus

A very good Wheel of Fortune adaptation. The best part is that you can edit the puzzle file to add puzzles of your own creation. Note that you must slow down Mini vMac to 1x speed for the sound to work properly. Fun Fact: The author of this game has a website.

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Scarab of Ra

Here's Scarab of Ra, one of the great Mac shareware titles of the 1980s. Explore a maze-like pyramid looking for treasure while overcoming tramps and animals. Fun Fact: Semicolon software is still in business… so pay your shareware dues! And you can check out developer Rick Holzgrafe's blog, too.

Stuffit 1.5

This includes Stuffit 1.5.1. and UnStuffit 1.5. I believe these were the final shareware versions of the software released directly by designer Raymond Lau. This is here mostly for historic reasons. You'd be better off using version 4.0.1 (below) instead. Thanks to fanman93 for the file. Fun Fact: Stuffit creator Raymond Lau now works for a company called EveryZing!

StuntCopter

Another all-time great from the era… and probably one of the most recognizable Mac titles from the era, too. This includes versions 1.0, 1.2, 1.6 and 2.0. Scroll up for “Cairo Shootout,” another great game by the same author.

Fly a blimp back and forth and rescue the POON clone. To help with this, you've got smart bombs, balloon bombs and a robot at your disposal. A classic! I was inspired to add this game after reading this review of it, which also includes detailed instructions for play. Fun Fact: This game was designed by Glenn Wichman, one of the creators of Rogue. He has a webpage.

Trek

This is a remarkably detailed Star Trek game. Do battle with Klingon ships. Thanks to darknation for the recommendation. Fun Fact: Trek designer Richard Harvey later designed the Fly! series of flight-sims.

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Wator

Written by: Robert Martin
Published: 1985

This one is great. The game simulates sharks eating fish. You tell the game how many of each to start with and the game simulates their population levels over time. And that's it. It goes on and on and on…